As wasn't uncommon, Rue was feeling rife with chaotic violence. Also not unusual, Rue was about to do something stupid.

A herd of meadow deer grazed quite a distance away, and Rue had decided that nothing else would do for dinner but a nice hunk of said meadow deer. Rue stood, still sheltered within the treeline and not yet spotted by their soon-to-be victims. At least, they hoped they hadn't yet been spotted. It'd be quite inconvenient without the element of surprise.

However, as much as they'd never admit it, Rue had absolutely no idea how to start. Spars and training sessions were always so boringly clean cut and ordered. This was an open-ended test, and Rue found themself paralyzed by the multitude of options. So, in true chaotic fashion, why not decide by a roll of the dice?

Tugging on threads of magic, Rue attempted to conjure, well, any sort of effect really. Though something with fire and explosions WOULD be nice. Thick fungal frills grew along their cheeks and flank. Rue had no more time than to wonder 'now how would THAT even help?' before the frills decomposed into thick, sticky goop. It was in their fur, their face, their EYES. Rue growled with surprise, shaking their head vigorously in an attempt to get the goop off and finding it ineffective. Rue took to instead using their claws to try to scrape the stuff off- which left the surroundings stained with both mushroom goop and oily drool. And had no doubt drawn attention to themself in the process.

Oh boy. What a start.

Stupidity operated on a risk-reward system, and as it turns out... either end of that spectrum was steep. Putting one's faith the toss of a dice? Foolish, at the very least.

The element of surprise was lost the instant Rue growled at their misfortune.

There was a collective sort of huff as each of the meadow deer took note of a potential threat in their vicinity; their heads lifted up from where they'd been enjoying late-season sweetgrasses, chewing their cud with wide eyes and pricked ears (though the former wasn't too noticeable, given the... hair situation going on.) One of the bulls lowed, and almost immediately the herd shuffled to the defensive.

A calf bleated as it was pressed between the rear ends of a few cows, head tossing upward to try and catch of glimpse of what was about to occur: one of the herd's bulls breaking formation to charge toward the threat.

Blinded as they were by decomposed frills, the hybrid was sure to feel the thu-thu-thump! of hooves on the earth as the meadow bull lowered his great head, antlers primed to crash into and toss their body upwards.

@Rue

Despite being a bit.. preoccupied with the whole goo situation, Rue heard the tell-tale thump thump thump of hooves against earth, no doubt accompanied by antlers aimed straight at their face. Any action Rue could've done would, in some part, have been fueled by (literally) blind panic.

So, continuing the trend of not-so-stellar decisions, Rue decided to slam their first on the panic button and go straight to burning the whole place down.

The area around Rue burst into violet-black flame. Rue cleared their eyes just in time to see the beautiful corrupted fire blossom, making quick work of the shrubbery and undergrowth. Toxic black smoke filled the air (and their lungs) and, belatedly, Rue realized that they couldn't really see where the Meadow Deer was anymore.

Well, They'd find out where it was when it crashed into them, that's for sure.

With a rearing snort-turned-bellow, the big brute skidded to a halt.

Just in time, too; just before his woolly coat came even remotely close to the fire. He, and any other meadow deer in Pegasus, was all too well-acquainted with the seething burn of Chaos—one could thank certain other corruption-ridden beasts for that—to put on so much confidence and bravado. It was danger that could not be defeated or scared off so easily, its harm more terrific than the possibility of making it leave them be.

Eyes rolling in their sockets with bug-eyed fear, the bull headed back for his herd. Shallow huffs, snorts, and mock tosses of his glorious horns and antlers followed his movement. He lowed at the fire at the halfway point between the clustered deer and the fire, as if that would make the horrible "beast" go away.

@Rue

It was hard to really tell what was happening beyond the ring of fire, given the thick haze of smoke and icy burn assaulting their senses. When no great beast charged into them, and the thudding of hooves got farther away, Rue was (hopefully) safe to assume that the charging meadow deer had backed off under threat of getting scorched.

Unluckily for it, it wouldn't be that easy. Coughing lightly from the toxic smoke, Rue would draw their magic back into the fire, to get it to charge forward like some enraged, hellish beast.

But that's not what happened.

Instead of going forward and out, the fire was drawn in. For an overwhelmingly painful moment Rue was near engulfed in the fire, before the force of their panic extinguished the fire completely. Blinded by pain and smoke, fur more black than rust, Rue trembled. Chaos gnawed and snarled at them, egging them on, but it was nothing compared to the scorching pain that seemingly refused to fade.

This was not going well at all.

The meadow deer had no desire to court something as dangerous as fire; and certainly not of the violent, unpredictable sort that might suddenly magnetize to them at any moment. They lowed as they moved further from the perceived threat, hurrying to (literally) greener pastures.

Which left the Kornerupine's self-immolating as being for naught.

It was a matter of time before the Chaotic fire either burnt out and left them quite scorched, and perhaps also before they continued to tempt fate's throw with their horribly unlucky magic. They could pursue the herd, try again; but, it would be at the risk of destroying their own body and falling into a chrysalis before they could reach a place to stabilize at.

@Rue

For a while, it was still. Only smoke wafted up from scorched grass, embers falling from the bushes and trees that had been unfortunate enough to get caught in the blaze. Rue stood, split onto whether to follow the herd and exact revenge or turn to Draco to lick their wounds. They settled on plopping right in the middle of destruction, burnt, corrupted grass crumbling as they sat down.

Yeah, it was time for a nap. Lest their gemstone force them into a two-week long nap.

Some part of them wanted to go to the river, to get some cool relief for their burns, but their body screamed at the idea of any more movement, and already they could feel exhaustion anchoring them to the ground. Just a little rest, to get their energy up, and then they would go find the river. And after that? Give those stinking deer what they deserved.

(Time skip like, a couple hours into the future)

They were aware QUITE a bit of time had passed by the time they woke up, but without any sort of useful time-telling device (like a sun, or a watch) Rue was unable to tell HOW much time had passed, exactly. Too much time, probably. The herd they had encountered earlier was probably long gone by now. Maybe they could find a different herd, this time. Hopefully a smaller, more convenient one.

Rue stood and immediately grit their teeth in pain. Oh right. I nearly incinerated myself earlier. Their legs had, fortunately, been mostly spared- likely because of the scales- but everything else? Yeah, they looked like Sharon's pumpkin pie. Their fur was patchy and stiff with char in most places- even more char than usual, if that was even possible. Yeah. The river still sounded like a good idea.

It was a slow, aching walk until they finally got to said river. They first lapped at the cool water before plonking their entire scorched body in it. Yeah. That's a lot better.

Hey, aren't sources of drinking water hot spots for, y'know, anyone who needs to drink water (Which was everyone as far as Rue was concerned, though they wouldn't be surprised if Draconua ran on oil and hate instead) Lifting their head up and dragging themself out of the water, Rue scanned the arena for any sign of well. Anything. But specifically (and hopefully) more meadow deer. Surely, this rematch was a very smart and good idea that would not go wrong at all.

Carbon-based lifeforms, as varied as they could be, all had the same needs that their base instinct drives them to satisfy: food, water, and shelter. Some moved to achieve this, and others rooted themselves to the earth. Meadow deer were of the former group, so of course it was inevitable that a herd would mill toward the river.

It wasn't the same herd that Rue had disturbed earlier—it was smaller, a single young bull leading their slow, ambling march along the river's curves and reeds. He seemed a little more than unsure, like it was his first day on the so-called job; a fresh wound trailed down his shoulder and chest, like he'd just contested his ownership of the group.

The fact that it was still an open gash, leeching blood down his hoof, didn't seem to trouble him as much as the doe nearest to him did. Whenever he paused to snuffle in the reeds and uproot one to chew on, she'd give it a few cursory laps of the tongue.

A small (roughly the same size as the Kornerupine, actually) fawn tagged along, bleating its gentle curiosity at every little thing.

@Rue